"There"

Posted by R. Berg on March 21, 2004

In Reply to: "There", ? posted by Word Camel on March 21, 2004

: : I came across this expression, I 'd like to know ift its commonly used this way?

: : "There," I told you she'd make it!
: : -used to express strong feelings such as anger, reassurance finality or reflection of feelings?

: : Thanks

: "There" is short for "there you are" or "there it is" meaning something like "here is the evidence for what I told you". It expresses what you said, and it is commonly used this way in ordinary speech.

Among the meanings you asked about, "there" isn't particularly associated with strong feelings. Used in the sense of "here is the evidence" as Word Camel describes, it expresses completion, something like "Look here, you can see that this settles the question." Another use is to reassure someone in distress: "There, there, we'll get you another cookie to replace the one that fell down the elevator shaft."